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Topic: The "Hi And A Bit About Myself" Thread (Read 135803 times)

I joined this forum to see how much the professional painters understand about painting wood, and Western Red Cedar in particular. I am the eastern area manager of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (www.WRCLA.org). I have 40 + years in the Forest Products Industry at all levels. The past three years I have been a technical specialist paid by the mills of the association to answer questions and solve problems related to their products. My expertise in realtion to coatings comes from years of partcipation in a committee at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, (FPL), (www.FPL.FS.FED.US) made up of others from my industry, and chemists who formulate coatings for many major paint manufacturers/coatings company's, and the scientists from the FPL who do science in these area's, to benefit the American taxpayer. I highly recommend that, as professional's, you become familiar with such natural ally's as the FPL who exist to provide accurate, scientifically verifiable advice, on how wood behaves, and what you need to know about it. My trade association is an international non-profit agency based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I essentially am here to help insure satisfaction with Western Red Cedar products made and sold by our member mills, and distributors through proper finishing, installation and choice of Western Red Cedar. Over a hundred years of product experience illustrates that If you use them correctly they perform extremely well.

Hello All!I just found this wonderful forum tonight and am glad I did!

I was taught by my ex-husband about 25 years ago how to paint and hang wallpaper- I was his 'helper'. The only good thing I can say about him is he was the Best (at painting and wallpaper, that is )- could hang 30 rolls in a day. So, I feel that I had a good start. After I got rid of him , I spent the next 15-20 years learning on my own and making a decent living at it.6 years ago while painting for an elderly lady in my neighborhood, who had had a stroke, she asked me if I would stay with her. Major career change, I thought but, I agreed. Two years with her, two years with her neighbor and then I fell into a cushy office manager job for which I had No experience but, learned very quickly how to do my job well.Now, my office job has become a dead-end job because my boss is getting ready to retire. And, I have been wracking my brains about what to do next. This week, out of the blue, I was offered two painting jobs- so I feel that my path is clear to get back into painting and hopefully, wallpaper.I've been down this road before- drumming up business- so, that isn't as freightening as it was when I first started.As an added bonus, I figure I'll easily get rid of the extra poundage I've accumulated from these 'cushy' jobs!

I am glad to have found this forum and I look forward to meeting you all. As I said, I am self-taught so, I know I have a lot to learn.Sandy

Hi everyone. Well I used to paint when I was a younger lad with my father who was a building contractor. I decided to go to school, get a degree and work for the corporate world since then... Being 34 years old I have been wanting to start my own business but always thought it may be to late to start a professional trade like this. However after talking with one of my co-workers, who had done part time painting before, and like me being burnt out of corporate, we have decided that we are going to give it a shot. We are just starting out and we are looking at it realisticlly and hopefully by next year we can be a full time paint business.

Thanks for this forum...

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Jared

I am a 3rd generation interior painter (taught by my dad, who was taught by his grandfather). Mostly brush-and-roller, although sometimes I do a rare "blow-and-go" spray job. The majority of the jobs I am getting lately are repaints and renovations/additions. SO MUCH commercial work here, it isn't even funny... thus, I tend to do more commercial jobs than residential.

I am 34 yrs old, and have been painting on-and-off since I was 8. I prefer to take the jobs the other local painters won't touch (cause they are too complicated or the customer is too picky).

Relocated to San Diego, CA just over a year ago. Grew up in the armpit of the US (New Jersey), and have lived all over the country (and various parts of the world) over the years.

San Diego is an EXCELLENT place to be a good painter - partly because the majority of painters around here are terrible, partly because downtown SD is booming with commercial and residential construction, and partly because the real estate market here is so incredibly inflated (resulting in way above average pay rates). And that isn't even mentioning the weather!

Anyway, I am very glad I stumbled across this forum, and I expect to be lurking from here on.

I look forward to exchanging tips and info with the knowledgeable and friendly membership here.

I'm Steve and I've been painting for just under 5 years. I started in California working for someone, and I've sinced moved to Mn to go it alone. I'm in my second year of business. It's been tough for me to figure out which area's are where my skills are best marketed, but I'm confident and optimistic. I never thought the popularity of web forums would extend to a painters forum. How cool is that? Anyway, glad I found this site and if anyone wants to check out my site that I built for the company, feel free. www.PaintMode.com (not a sales pitch)

I've been mowing grass for a few years and when my son in law lost his auto manufacturig job in Tenn I invited him to come to WVa and mow grass with me. He did and in this our first grass season together we've done pretty well.The problem is that grass doesn't grow for five months out of the year so I've been looking for another income producer that would be year round.

We had a grass customer ask us to paint his house. We did. Then he wanted us to paint his mother in law's house which we did. Now we are getting ready to paint the mother in laws brother's house. So I'm thinking maybe painting is something we should look into.

I've done tons of painting for myself having been a homeowner and a landlord with about five properties a few years ago. The rental property is gone now. Too many headaches. In spite of all the painting I know there are soooo... many things I have to learn. Pricing, selecting the correct paint, correct application, etc, etc. Having said that, I'm confident that painting is the way to go.

Hey Gang!I've been here a few months, so i guess I should say hello.My name is Keith and I hail from MA originally, with the last 10 yrs spent on the island of Martha's Vineyard. I move to Virginia in '03 because it was too expensive to live on the Vineyard, (only painting for 5.5 months out of each season).

I started painting way back in 1971 as a HS junior. My buddy's father was a commercial contractor and we worked long hours for him. I learned a lot from him, attended college for 3 years, but went back to painting with him. Then I struck out on my own in 1986.

I currently run a crew of 6 (one being a carpenter) and we do some pretty nice homes and new construction/renovations.

In the colder months, I store away my brushes and write for PerformanceYears.com, which is a classic Pontiac website. I own a '72 GTO and recently was published. My book, "Milt Schornack and The Royal Bobcat GTOs" was published by McFarland, Inc. in Jan. of 2006.

I also founded "eBay Scam Killers" in 2004. The organization is now almost 600 strong, from all over the world. We search, report, bait and destroy Romanian eBay scams 24/7, 365 per year. We have played a part in over 60 arrests of Romanian eBay scammers in the past 2 years alone.

At 50, I only have a good 4-5 hours per day of workable knee mobility. Anything longer than that causes me to limp for a few days. Climbing ladders, standing on 14-pitch roofs and crawling around on hardwood floors tends to beat-up the knees after a few decades!

I hope to share much of what I've learned (the hard way) to younger painters who are just starting out.If you have a question, I'd be happy to help out.

Great forum!Call me.... "Mac"

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The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves. -Logan Pearsall Smith

Hello painterforum members. My name is Brett. I love forums, so I'm glad I found this one. There is so much information out there and it nice to be able to ask other pros for help.

I got started in painting when I was 14, now 19. I had helped my dad around the house a little, but the summer before high school my grandma ask me to paint her house. After that some people saw her house and they needed painting so I did there houses/projects. It's just spread from there. I started off doing $12/hour and having the customer buying the supplies. I did that for a couple of years and then started bidding jobs as well as making much more money. I recently formed a business out of it called "Flawless Finish". Along with painting, I do mobile auto detailing on days between painting jobs and on the weekends. I've always enjoyed working for myself and am currently going to school for business.

I look forward to learning and helping out as much as possible around here.

I have been a professional painter for 20 + years. My husband & I have been working side by side 24/7 haven't killed each other yet.

Got my degree & worked in an office for a while, that wasn't for me. I come from a family of building contractors grandfather, father & brothers guess it's just in my blood.

There is nothing more satisfying then to step back at the end of the day & admire a job well done. Yes, I am a perfectionist. My Dad always said if the job is worth doing... do it well. I agree with him 100%.

Lynjo

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"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."Charlotte Whitton

hello all, I'm so glad I found this forum, I was introduced to painting when I was 16, did it for 5 years but I left the trade for personal reasons, I'm making my reentry into the trade as my own boss doing residential interior & exterior, so glad to be my own boss look forward to learning and sharing stories about our experiences.

Hi I'm Ray and I am a part time painter and a full time fire fighter. I have been in the buisiness for about 10 years. Started painting for a local construction company then branched out on my own. Was just looking around to find a few new ideas on things and found this forum. I will be checking in from time to time and I am sure I will soon have some questions.

Vin

Getting ready for contractors license November 2nd, just spent most of this weekend at the school doing the crash course, definetly not ready for the test YET but i still have a little time.

The quiz's we took pretty much told me my weak spots, some math some business , and some law so going to be craming as much as possible .

I don't know alot i've been a property management apartment painter for 8 years now, have done 30-40 or so houses on the side, I do drywall repair, shoot texture and acoustic, Lots and lots of patching for the company I work for all piece work so it's been good, but i'd like more$$$.

I also work for a University here on the side mostly weekends taking care of there student apartments and other property they have but they've asked me to do other stuff for them that equire me to be licnesed and that is the reason for getting the license.

So thanks ahead of time guys for the welcome hope to learn alot and give back what I can.

Whats up, my name is Matt Cassidy and I've been painting under my own business Off The Wall Inc. for a little over a year now. Why it took me so long to figure out how great it is to work for yourself I'll never know. I worked a store manager position for a 50,000 sq. ft surf/skate/outdoor store for almost 9 years and dealt with every kind of pissed off customer imaginable as well as being in charge of over 80 snot nosed kids 50+ hours a week. I will NEVER return to a gig like that ever again. It finally took the store to close down for me to get off my butt and do something different. I was in a pinch for a job and my mom who works for a builder hooked me up with their painting crew which turned out to be pretty cool. I have to admit I thought I was getting involved in something that just wasn't my speed but it was the best thing that could have happened. I learned a ton from the guys I worked with and realized that I could do it on my own and make a good living. I love working by myself and if anything good or bad is to come from one of my jobs there's only one person it could be. Don't think I'd have it any other way. One year later and business is good!